The four-laning of Highway 11 — a project that's been mired in politics for more than 30 years — is finally complete.

Despite some single-lane closures over the next few weeks for minor work, the last section of divided-highway between North Bay and Huntsville opened to traffic at noon Thursday.

The opening marks the long-awaited completion of a project that's been the subject of intense lobbying and much controversy under the rein of both Liberal and Conservative governments.

“It's just hard to believe that this day has finally arrived,” said Coun. Dave Mendicino, who has long championed the completion of the project. “There was a time when we thought it may not come.”

Mendicino was at the forefront of a local lobby effort to see the highway expansion completed while he served as president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, and he continued to push the matter after he was elected to council about a decade ago.

He said pressure began mounting locally in 2002 while the Tories were in power under former premier Ernie Eves due to concerns that the pace of the work was slowing. And Mendicino said pressure continued to build after the Liberals were elected in 2003.

He recalled concerns that the four-laning of Highway 69 had taken precedent over the Highway 11 project and how the council of the day butted heads with former Nipissing MPP Monique Smith over calls for a detailed time frame for the work.

The city and the chamber had maintained that having the entire stretch between North Bay and Toronto four-laned would make the region more accessible to those in southern Ontario, boosting tourism and economic development.

And although safety was also a key reason for the calls to see the four-laning completed, Mendicino said it became front and centre after a North Bay father and his four children were killed when the car they were in collided with a transport during a snowstorm, about three kilometres north of South River. Gerry Ouellette and his children Tracey, 16, Scott, 17, Stephen, 13, and Kevin, 9, died Nov. 30, 2003.

“We really dug our heels in at that point,” said Mendicino, recalling how Ouellette's wife and the stepmother to his children appeared before council on more than one occasion asking that the city lobby for the completion of the four-laning.

A firm commitment from the government finally came in 2005 when the Liberals unveiled the Northern Ontario Highways Strategy, which included a 2012 completion date for the project.

The Grits were quick to point out Friday that they've kept to that deadline, indicating in a release that the major expansion of Highway 11 between North Bay and Huntsville has been completed on schedule.

“Our government has followed through on its commitment to complete the four-laning of Highway 11 by 2012,” Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci said in the release. “As one of the largest undertakings ever funded through the Northern Highways Program, our government has invested significantly in advancing safety and promoting economic development and job creation in communities along the Highway 11 corridor."

The North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce welcomed the news, suggesting years of perseverance and commitment have paid off.

“Every chamber president over the past 30 plus years has had the Highway 11 four-laning as a priority during their term,” chamber president John Strang said in a release which highlighted efforts to see the project realized dating back to 1989.

The release described a campaign created at that time called Four for Eleven which featured a bumper sticker of passing cars. And it recalled a hiatus in progress on the project under Bob Rae NDP government, as well as a forward surge with the four-laning in 1995, under former premier Mike Harris’ Conservative government.

Harris took some flack from the opposition of the day for investing in the highway project because it ran through prominent Conservative ridings including his own, as well as Parry Sound-Muskoka, which was home to Eves, who was finance minister.

Highway 11 four-laning between North Bay and Huntsville first began in 1979 with a project south of North Bay. Five additional projects followed in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1993 to extend the four-laning 27 km south of North Bay to Powassan. Since 1995, four-laning had been ongoing for the final 93 km from Powassan to Huntsville. Since that time, work has been continuous with a series of 13 major construction contracts. The government has spent $717 million on Highway 11 four-laning since 2003.